


Unraveled Time

by Loser_Angel_666



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, David "Dave" Katz Lives, Emotional Hurt, Fix-It, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves-centric, M/M, Modern David "Dave" Katz, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26379745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loser_Angel_666/pseuds/Loser_Angel_666
Summary: "He had hoped. Feared. Wondered if maybe he was wrong. Maybe this only looked like Dave. Because Dave was dead. Six feet under with a hole in his chest.But Dave isn’t dead. He’s in 2019 and he isn’t bleeding out in his arms. And Klaus stops outside his store every day."orKlaus finds Dave in 2019 after they stop the second apocalypse. Somehow Dave is alive and well and Klaus doesn't think he can face him.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 13
Kudos: 219





	Unraveled Time

**Author's Note:**

> TW: PTSD, grief, lots of talk about death and sadness and heartbreak  
> (But it has a happy ending and no one actually dies)
> 
> Follows season 2 up until the sparrow academy. So everything in season two happened, but when they get back to 2019, it’s exactly how they left it, no sparrow academy. Dave’s story line doesn’t change from season 1 because of season 2, but I didn’t think of the logistics behind how he’s alive and in 2019. Just roll with it please.
> 
> Also this is somewhat inspired by Sunflower by Harry Styles...

Klaus brought his hands up to his face, rubbing his eyes and dragging his black painted fingernails down his cheeks. The man in front of him was nodding along lightly to the melody of a song Klaus didn’t recognize, the music filtering out of the shop every time a customer opened the door. He was beautiful. 

Klaus thought it over and over and over again. He was beautiful, and watching him through the big glass windows of his shop was definitely creepy, right? But Klaus couldn’t go inside. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t know what to say. What to do. Whether to order coffee, or pretend nothing is wrong at all. 

There isn’t exactly a guide book on what to do when your dead boyfriend shows up in your city. Klaus asks Ben if he can see him too and Ben says he can but Klaus doesn’t believe him. Ben tries to get him to talk. To explain. But Klaus doesn’t speak to him at all until that night when he whispers that Dave was supposed to be gone.

“I held him while- while he died. He was bleeding so much. So so much blood. And he was- he wasn’t- he was dead. Ben. He was dead.” 

Klaus didn’t cry. He had glossy eyes and his voice was high and cracked with raw desperation. With grief. With fear and confusion. Klaus didn’t cry that night. But he ached with cravings he had been doing so well with ignoring. He clung to his pillow and shook and his eyes shouldn’t have been as dry as they were, and Ben’s heart broke not being able to do much beside talk him through it. 

In the morning, Klaus got up like normal and when Ben questioned him, he brushed it off like it was nothing. Nothing at all. And he ignored Ben again when he told him not to go back to the shop today. To give his heart a goddamn break. But Klaus is standing outside Dave’s work building again, looking in through the big windows and watching him at the cash register.

It became a normal occurrence. A daily trip by the little general store with the beautiful man behind the counter. One day he walked by with Diego. They didn’t stop, but Klaus asked if he could see the man in the blue shirt and Diego had looked worried, but said yes. He could see him too. A few days after that, Vanya told Klaus that she could see him too. When he asked Allison, hiding behind her and pulling his scarf up in case Dave glanced out the window, she said he was cute and ignored Klaus when he told her not to go inside. 

When she came out of the shop she told Klaus his name was Dave. Of course Klaus already knew his name. He had hoped. Feared. Wondered if maybe he was wrong. Maybe this only looked like Dave. Because Dave was dead. Six feet under with a hole in his chest. 

But Dave isn’t dead. He’s in 2019 and he isn't bleeding out in his arms. And Klaus stops outside his store every day. Klaus supposes this explains why he could never summon him. He wonders if he would recognize Klaus. If he even remembers him at all. Wonders whether or not he wants Klaus back in his life if he does remember him.

Surely, if Dave remembered Klaus, he would be looking for him right. He would have found him. They would be dancing in the kitchen with the lights dimmed and 60’s music playing. They would be in love. Right? Klaus can’t think of rejection. He wouldn’t be able to deal with seeing Dave’s face if he doesn’t recognize him. Or if he did recognize him and rejected him anyway. He can’t.

So he keeps walking. And when he starts seeing him in other places, he hides. One day he sees him in the library, crouched down to look at the bottom shelf, pensive look on his kind face, and Klaus quickly turns and scurries away. He doesn’t just hide behind a shelf either, he finds himself walking down the street. And it’s getting dark, it’s nearly winter, but he still doesn’t stop when he gets to his apartment complex. 

And he finds himself hours later crouched on the ground behind the shop that Dave works at. Hands over his ears, tears in his eyes, makeup running messily, and feeling like he’s bleeding out through his chest. But he wasn’t the one who got shot. He wasn’t the one who got shot. So he has to live through the fucking flashbacks and the loss and the grieving. Grieving over a man who apparently isn’t dead.

He’s stuck here behind a dumpster, with nothing but guilt and desperation and a little bit of ‘I give up’ and even though his face looks the same as it always has, he feels so goddamn different. He tugs at his hair wishing it would grow, just for the satisfaction of shaving it off. And he leans his head back against the bricks and cries. He hasn’t cried like this since Dave died. 

Klaus doesn’t move for a while, but eventually he gives in to the nagging voice that is Ben, telling him to get up. To get help. To go home. To do something. He walks the twenty minutes back to his apartment. And falls right into his bed. 

The next morning Klaus doesn’t go to see Dave. And the day after that he doesn’t. And the day after that. And when Diego asks him to tag along on a case to talk to one of the deceased victims, they have to pass by Dave’s store. Klaus makes them go the long way. Diego couldn’t get him to explain.

After the eighth day of avoiding Dave, He walks by his shop again. Feeling as if he’s doing something wrong. But he isn’t really doing much of anything at all. Maybe that’s the problem. Like if he were to just go inside. Or stop walking down this street. Maybe he should move across town. Never go into another store again. Or maybe he should put on his best outfit and walk right up to Dave and ask him how he’s been. Maybe if he stopped with the avoidance and the fear and the grief something would fall into place. But he keeps skirting around the edges and nothing changes. 

Nothing changes. Nothing changes. Nothing ever fucking changes. Because he’s still here feeling like he’s losing the one person he’s ever loved over and over, again and again. He can’t stop coming back even though seeing Dave feels like being submerged in ice water right after a scalding hot shower. And seeing Dave happy and okay without Klaus is like being stabbed with one of Diego’s knives right through his center. 

But even then, Dave smiles kindly at a little girl and her mother. He laughs at something his coworker said. He twirls around while he sweeps the floors before closing on the days that Klaus comes by late. And it hurts like fucking hell, but he falls in love all over again every time.

Still he can’t let Dave see him. He can’t. Except Klaus isn’t watching him talking to the girl and her mother anymore. Dave is still. Dave’s not just still… he’s frozen. He’s looking right at Klaus. Eyes wide and mouth open, eyebrows turned up. It looks like he mouths “Klaus”, but Klaus is too busy trying to decide which direction he should run to notice.

He’s backing up. Ben is yelling at him not to run away from this. Klaus backs into a stranger on the sidewalk who looks at him with worry. He thinks she asks if he’s okay, but he’s already scrambling away, bumping into another stranger, a man who calls him something nasty, and then he’s walking shakily down the street.

He’s breathing too hard. He can’t breathe enough. Ben is talking to him. Ben usually says useful things. Useful things that Klaus ignores. Like ‘Talk to Dave’ and ‘Don’t run from this’. Why doesn’t Klaus listen to him? Oh right, because Klaus is a full blown IDIOT. 

Dave doesn’t follow Klaus and that’s enough rejection for him. The next day, he goes back to the shop anyway. Not planning to go inside. Just so he can say goodbye. Because Dave clearly recognized him. Dave remembered him. And Dave didn’t look for him. Dave didn’t find him. Dave doesn’t want him. Klaus goes to let himself say goodbye. (And also because Dave is still the most beautiful man Klaus has ever seen).

When he gets to the shop, Dave isn’t there. Which is strange because he always works Tuesdays at 2. Klaus tugs at the dog tags around his neck. Should he take them off now? Does he still get to mourn Dave? Now that he isn’t dead? Should he move across the globe? That’s probably the best idea he’s had since 1962 before the second apocalypse. (Or first if you’re going by year). He should walk away now. But then he feels the presence of someone behind him.

“Why did you run yesterday?” the voice says from behind Klaus, and he knows that voice so well. He hasn’t heard that voice in so long. God, and it sounded just as sweet and warm and wonderful as it did then. And just as pained as when he had told Klaus that it would be okay while blood dripped from his mouth and he began to choke. 

“You were dead, Dave.” Klaus says. He doesn’t turn around, but he can see Dave’s reflection in the shop windows. He still holds onto the dog tags.

“I’m not dead now though.”

Klaus turns around, dropping his dog tags and he can’t stop himself from reaching out, hesitantly putting his hand on Dave’s shoulder. Testing to see if it will go through like a ghost. But Dave is solid and strong and alive. And he has tears in his eyes. Then they’re both moving forward at the same time.

Klaus is hugging Dave. Finally, he’s hugging him. Dave hugs back with just as much need and want and love as Klaus. Warmth and finality and home. Klaus holds on tighter and Dave rubs his hand up and down his back with enough pressure to burn through Klaus’ shirt and set fire to his skin. He feels safe. They’re both kind of trying not to cry while standing in the middle of the sidewalk. But they’re probably getting enough weird looks anyway. He feels like he’ll never let go of this man again.

“How?” Klaus asks, his voice muffled because it’s buried in Dave’s shoulder.

“The commission. You’re brother, Five. Time travel. Lot’s of bed rest. A lot of really confusing equations and changes to the timeline.” He says carefully. Klaus doesn’t ask for the full story. He doesn’t need to know. Because Dave isn’t dead and he still kind of doesn’t believe it.

“Why here? Or now?”

“To see you.”

“But you didn’t. You didn’t come find me.” Klaus doesn’t pull away, his hands are shaking against Dave’s back, clutched in his jacket like if he lets go Dave will evaporate.

“I tried. I promise I tried,” Dave says, then he pulls away, guiding them off the sidewalk and around the corner where no one can see or hear them. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t find your apartment. The academy was destroyed. And I tried- but…” He trails off and Klaus nods, tears stinging his eyes. 

He wants to reach out. To hug him again. To kiss him. To know that he isn’t going to lose him again. He doesn’t. Dave doesn’t either. 

“Do you want to get coffee?”Dave asks, almost whispering. Klaus shakes his head no. “Oh,”

“I don’t know. I can’t just… I need-” Klaus says but he doesn’t finish the sentence.

“Alright, just- just it’s alright, okay, it’s alright,” Dave says, both to Klaus and himself, and Klaus nods, eyes squeezed closed. 

“I can’t go get coffee with you, Dave, and just pretend I didn’t spend years thinking you were dead. Like you didn’t- like we’re not in whatever kind of situation this even is,” Klaus says with a hysterical laugh. 

Dave nods, looking heartbroken and slightly like he feels the same, and he puts his hand on Klaus’ arm, an invitation. Klaus accepts it, and they’re hugging again.

“Klaus, the time I spent without you was… desolate. And I never stopped wondering about you. If you were okay. Where you were. How you were doing.” Dave says into Klaus’ hair. “The years I spent at the commission were spent thinking about you. When I wasn’t looking for you here, I was trying to get back to you, or trying to convince myself that you were still alive.”

“Dave,” Klaus pulls away just enough to see his face. 

“I know it was only 10 months in the middle of a war. Maybe things won’t cross over to the modern world as well as I hope…” He takes a breath, looking right at Klaus, “Without you I would be many things. And none of them would be good. None of them would be who I am now. So even if you were to walk away, I would be glad I ever had the chance to know you.”

“I’m not gonna walk away.” 

“I know.” Dave smiles, Klaus leans in to kiss him. When they pull away, Dave promises, “I’m not walking away either.”

“Maybe a coffee would be okay…” Klaus whispers and Dave leans his forehead against Klaus’ smiling.

“Let’s go then,”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! Let me know what you thought!
> 
> Have a lovely day :)
> 
> also if anyone can tell me how to get the italicized words to stay in italics when I post, that would be great


End file.
